THROUGH ASIA 
1 246 
of two or three years it grew into a very dear little thing. 
Then came the parents, and begged and prayed the 
missionaries to give them their little one again ; their 
prayer was of course granted. 
In another case an old female servant in a Swedish 
missionary’s family exposed nine of her children one after 
the other as soon as they were born, and did not keep 
a single one alive. Possibly this inhuman and barbarous 
custom is a result of the peculiar social circumstances. 
In addition to sowing the seed of the Christian faith, 
the missionaries tramp many a mile on errands of pure 
benevolence. An infant life or two saved, and a few 
young women persuaded to loosen the bandages which so 
horribly distort their feet, so that they may grow back 
into their natural position — what are they amid all the vast 
multitudes of the yellow race? We may reply : “To say 
the least, the example is ennobling.” 
How many a time too did I not hear of missionaries 
using the stomach-pump, and so saving the lives of 
would-be suicides who had taken an over-dose of opium ! 
More than once, whilst resting in the mission-stations, 
I have been awakened in the middle of the night by a 
loud knocking at the gate. In such and such a house 
a man lay dying. He had just taken a dose of opium. 
Off went the missionary in hot haste with the stomach- 
pump, and so saved the man's life. Sometimes the 
victims were grateful for having been snatched from the 
jaws of death ; but in general gratitude is a virtue 
which the Chinese do not manifest to any exuberant 
extent. Suicide by opium is commonest amongst women 
who are unhappy in their marriage. Sometimes if a man 
beats his wife or speaks an unkind word to her, it is 
sufficient to send her to the opium, almost out of sheer 
.spite as it were. The habit of opium-smoking is fearfully 
common, and quite as much practised by women as by 
men. The number of children who have died from having 
crept up on their parents’ opium sofa and sucked at their 
pipes is little short of appalling. 
Previous to the first Dungan revolt Ning-sha was a 
